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We may have a slight problem. Giancarlo Stanton is poised to be coming off the DL soon. He is running on an anti-gravity treadmill – no, it is nothing out of Star Trek, just a vest that he wears while running on a treadmill to take his weight off of his body while he runs. He has been showing signs of progress and should be back sooner rather than later from a Grade 2 hamstring pull. Estimates are a few more weeks; he has missed 18 straight games since going on the DL on April 29th and reportedly has had an injection of plasma to help his recovery. The other side of this is, what happens when he does return? Many were weighing in today on Twitter as we all watched Marcell Ozuna hit a blast to left center to score 2 runs to eventually prove the difference in this afternoon’s win. It looks as if Ozuna is going to stick for the remainder of the season. He is hitting .299 with 1 HR and 8 RBI in 62 ABs. He has a rocket arm in RF and can play excellent defense to boot. Stanton is the team’s starting RF, so in all likelihood, Ozuna would shift to LF. That brings us to the LF situation. Having Juan Pierre is a defensive liability, and his offense is predicated on getting on base and wreaking havoc with his speed. Although he has been able to steal 13 bases thus far, and provided solid leadership and hustle every game, the Marlins offense is going nowhere without any means to provide pop in the lineup. In all likelihood, we may see Juan Pierre’s playing time downgraded to a backup situation, or platoon in LF with Ozuna from time to time. Christian Yelich is lurking in AA Jacksonville, waiting for his call up. His position? LF. He has arguably the most promising bat in the entire Marlins farm system so he could dislodge Ozuna from LF, too. Yelich has played CF and can field that position as well. So, another scenario would mean that Yelich is called up to man CF. Which then brings us to yet another domino – what do the Marlins do about Jake Marisnick and his future and Justin Ruggiano and his present? Ruggiano has provided some pop and looks to be a solid trade bait option down the road. This may be the most likely scenario for him as the Marlins move forward, given the progress of Ozuna and Yelich. In Marisnick, the Marlins can afford to wait longer and let his bat mature more. He has the tools to be a very good CF in the bigs and right now, could be a gold glove caliber defender in CF. He may actually be the Marlins best defensive outfielder in their farm system. Another wild idea here could be to move Stanton to 1B. It wouldn’t happen this season, but if he could learn to field the position a bit, he could be moved to 1B and allow for Ozuna to resume his natural position in RF, Yelich slides back to LF, and Marisnick gets his spot in CF. If that is the scenario the Marlins shoot for, that leaves them with loads of talent they could flip for more prospects – Ruggiano, Pierre, Coghlan. All three of those OFers could be solid veteran bats for playoff contending teams looking to add depth down the stretch. Given their flexible contracts, they would provide extra value for the Fish, too. And if the Marlins plan on moving Stanton to 1B, Logan Morrison becomes expendable and could be a highly sought after bat down the stretch as well. Ricky Nolasco continues to build his value – his 8 inning, 11 K performance this afternoon puts him back on the market and ahead of other options that my be on teams’ radars. Combining him with a Ruggiano, Pierre, Coghlan, or even Morrison gives the Marlins even more flexibility in making deals to shore up their talent pool even further. We have also started to ask questions about the 2B situation – is Derek Dietrich the future there or will he be moved over to 3B? In moving Dietrich to 3B, they retain Donovan Solano and his value as a 2B with a solid glove and ability to hit out of the 2 hole while also gaining Dietrich’s bat and glove at a pos

Miguel Cabrera just went deep for the Tigers, his three run shot in the top of the third inning giving Detroit a 3-1 lead over Texas. It was to the opposite field, right of center, and way back in the stands. Despite going the other way, it looked gone off the bat. The home run came after a play that John Kruk didn’t like. Omar Infante was on second with none out when Torii Hunter hit a ball in the shortstop hole. Infante tried to advance, probably thinking the ball was going through. Elvis Andrus fielded it, threw to third, but the throw was off and Infante was safe. In The Hidden Game of Baseball, the authors postulate that trying to go to third on any ball hit to the shortstop was a good play. The run expectancy at the start of the play is 1.19. If the runner stays put and the batter is out, it drops to 0.73. If the runners goes and is out at third, batter safe at first, it drops to 0.57. If the runner is safe on a throw to third, however, the run expectancy rises to 1.90. If the runners goes and the batter is out, the expectancy only drops to 0.98. So if the runner goes, the break even point if the shortstop goes for the play at third is about 30%. In other words, the play only needs to work four out of ten times to make it worth while. The next time an announcer complains about the runner trying for third on that play, you’ll know he’s wrong.

After a rather tumultuous series against the White Sox the Angels managed to keep the final game of the series under their control the entire 9 innings to record a much needed win. New ace of the staff Jason Vargas put up another 0'fer in 7 IP, though he lost his command at times leading to 3 walks in a 114 pitch out, although he did strike out 6. The Angels offense has settled nicely even if Hamilton is still struggling, though he's showing signs of being able to make consistent contact instead of K'ing on 3 pitches every AB. The pitching probably won't settle as nicely as the offense has in the past week, but if Vargas can keep putting up these ridiculously high quality starts the Angels will be in an improved position from a month ago.Once Weaver comes up you can chalk the Angels pitching staff up to being actually serviceable, with ace Weaver leading the charge and the refreshed C.J Wilson manning the #2 spot in the rotation. Any good pitching staff builds itself off of 3 quality starters and having the off-and-on Hanson at 4 is something the team can work with, though Blanton is just something we'll have to deal with for now. Still think Garrett Richards should be pitching 5th since that spot is best used for developing young starters.The Angels are actually a couple steps away from solidifying their rotation, though it's still left to be seen whether or not they can get it together in time. We can be thankful the Angels pulled together a nice win on a Sunday, something we haven't seen in a good while. Let us rejoice and be glad. Angels 6 White Sox 2 Game Notes -- Jason Vargas has been an absolute godsend for this starting rotation, and you'll still find detractors who claim the Kendrys-Vargas swap was not worth it. This was another start in which Vargas went at least 7 innings, giving the bullpen a much needed day to relax. Three relievers still made an appearance today, but it wasn't a complete disaster as it was in yesterdays Joe Blanton start. It seems as if Dane De La Rosa may be losing some effectiveness as he came into todays game and allowed 1 run and 1 walk in only 1/3rd of an inning pitched. Even through his wildness Vargas was able to strike out 6 guys, which is pretty impressive given his walk and pitch totals. Seeing the pitching staff keep the opposing offense to only 1 run does offer a bit of hope for the team, especially after the disaster yesterday. Then again we've all seen exactly how bi-polar this team can be so it wouldn't be a complete shock to see them lose in a complete blowout next game. I'd like to say this is the start of a streak, but it would be about the 5th time I would have said that in the past 2 weeks. -- The offense wasn't exactly on top of it's game today, they were largely helped out by Peavy's 5 walks allowed in todays outing. Two of those walks came with the bases loaded, giving Erick Aybar 3 of the 6 runs scored as the early runs in the game can be attributed to Aybar. I'm not 100% sure how to feel about this, it's nice to see the Angels let a pitcher work himself into trouble after they've broadcasted their inability to show plate discipline, but I can't tell if this is because of the Angles newfound appreciate for taking pitches or just extreme wildness on Peavy's part. To be fair at times John Hirschbeck was putting an incredible squeeze on both Angel and White Sox pitchers at times, most notably on Peavy and Ernesto Frieri in the 9th. -- Speaking of Frieri, his control (which was a problem last year) is looking worse off than it was last year. Frieri's breaking pitches are practically allergic to the strike zone, and he insists and throwing them in tight counts without relying on his fastball. Too often does Frieri fool around with breaking pitches before going back to the fastball, often times being too late to get the batter out. If he can consistently punch the z

RT @Artj97: Pitbull concert

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Who did the makeup and hair it's fantastic lol “@Melody_Carr: Austin's zombie Bday party

Report: Gronk to have fourth arm surgery Monday

When the Tampa Bay Rays changed their name in 2008 and transformed overnight from the hapless laughingstock of the American League to 97-win division champions, their rotation featured five pitchers 26 and younger: At 26, James Shields was the old man of the group, which included Scott Kazmir, Matt Garza, Edwin Jackson and Andy Sonnanstine. The genius of the Rays since then has been their ability consistently replenish their staff with young starters and yet remain one of the best in the league.

Super Bowl L: San Francisco in the driver's seat, per @AlbertBreer

Joshua Huffman Old school mentality continues to rule among the majority of Tennessee Titans enthusiasts. With 57 of the 117 votes (48.72 percent), Steve McNair enjoys a lopsided victory as the Greatest Tennessee Titan. His closest competition came from Chris Johnson (18 votes), Eddie George (13 votes) and Bruce Matthews (12 votes). Does this mean that Johnson is the Second-Greatest Titan? Although Johnson finished in second place, he probably wouldn’t receive more votes than George in a head-to-head “Who is the Greater Titan” matchup. The thing with Johnson is that he’s a “love him or hate him” type of player. After reviewing conversations on Twitter, it was obvious that many McNair voters had George as their No. 2 option. Johnson may have the better chance at No. 1 votes but George would have the advantage at getting his face on Mount Rushmore (most top four votes). If an eight-player tournament were used and a first-round matchup involved No. 2 Johnson vs. No. 7 Jevon Kearse, who would fans support as the Greater Titan? While Johnson has the 18-2 advantage in this Royal Rumble style of polling, Kearse should enjoy a closer battle in a head-to-head format. Along with assistant editor / lead columnist Josh Gunnels and senior analyst Shawn Eagle, we chose McNair as the Greatest Titan. Despite numerous injuries, McNair carried this franchise on his back during the early 2000s. His toughness and determination are what fans should desire in all future Titans representatives. Who knows where this franchise and the fan base would stand at if McNair weren’t around when this team relocated. Any surprises from this poll? How about Bruce Matthews receiving 12 votes after serving just three seasons as a player and three seasons as an offensive line coach as a member of the Titans, not Houston Oilers?